[Anime] Spring Impressions: Hanasaku Iroha Ep. 1

Hanasaku Iroha can best be described as the latest “Cinderella Story”. Ohana Matsumae, the main character, is a girl who longs for more than her provincial life in the city. She lives with her quirky excuse of a mother and spends her school days with her best friend Ko. Her prayers for a more interesting scenery are answered when her mother suddenly decides to run away with her boyfriend. The irresponsible mother leaves her daughter to live at her mother’s inn outside the city, and that is where Ohana’s not-so-fairy tale begins.

My favorite shojo anime is a really old series called Candy Candy. If you do not live in Latin America or in Europe then you probably have not heard of it since it was never distributed in the US. The protagonist, Candy White, was an orphan who suffered more hardships than a normal girl should bear. Even after being treated as a slave by her adoptive mother, bullied by her fake siblings and witnessing her boyfriend’s tragic death she would continue to endure the pain and go on with her life. Hasasaku Iroha reminds me of that series a lot. Ohana’s mother and grandmother did not speak which is why instead of being received with open arms Ohana is made into a worker for the inn.

Why should you watch this? The show seems to be targeted mainly to the shojo audience. Even so, the anime does not include the soap opera-like aspects that most shojo series have. While there is a romantic story involved, Ohana’s main goal is to continue on with her life even though she is upset by the drastic change that did not meet up to her expectations. The inn’s quirky staff, her strange relatives and a roommate who tells her constantly to die, provides an enough comedic environment for the show to balance out the drama.


The animation is beautiful and the show’s soundtrack has become one of my favorites even after one episode. I say you should give it a try, if you do not like it after the first episode then go watch [C].


Episode 1: It's Spring, I'm 16 and I'm Still a Bud
Company: Yomiuri Telecasting Corporation (YTV)
Run Time: 24:03
Watch on CrunchyRoll: Here

-- Geo (sora_thekey) 24/7 geek! -- Follow me on Twitter: @sora_thekey
Originally posted on Anime Vice.com